Fedor Dostoevsky, the Russian novelist, has said that hell is hopelessness. He goes on to remind us about Dante's infernal, and that for Dante, when he talks about hell, above the place of hell, is written in an inscription which says, leave all hope behind you who enter here. Well, if hell is hopelessness, then the kingdom of God is about hope. And that's what I want to talk about this morning, coming from 1 Peter, chapter 1, beginning with verses 1 through 5. I want to look at the subject, I want to look at the topic, the theme of hope, as it applies to Peter's first letter. And I want to begin with verse 1, where Peter describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And in many ways, as people read Peter, and as you look at Peter, and as you begin to chew on Peter, and to digest Peter, begin to drink from the fountain and the well and the spring of Peter, you begin to see that Peter, in particular, when compared to the other writers in the Bible, and specifically the other apostles, especially when compared to the writers of John and Paul, what you begin to find out is that Peter really is, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostle of hope. That is to say that Peter, probably more than anyone else, any other writer in holy scripture, emphasizes the theme of hope. It's not to say that he doesn't emphasize other themes, he of course does. He does talk about the themes of faith, he does talk about the themes of love, and the whole host of other biblical and theological themes. But what you get from Peter, what you glean from reading Peter, what you come away with after you've read Peter, is that you have a sense that this is a man, this is an apostle who is primarily the apostle of hope, he is the apostle of Jesus Christ. That means his apostleship is from Jesus. He's called by Jesus, he ministers in the power of the knowledge that he is called by Jesus the Christ. And because of that, he has this overarching theme that I think comes from the fact that he understands that he is called by Jesus Christ, and therefore the theme that stands out from Peter is this theme of hope. And as we sung this morning, that's because I think Peter grasped the understanding that, you know, it's on Jesus Christ, it's on this solid rock we stand. And all other ground as it were is sinking sand. We have hope this morning. Peter has hope and this comes through his whole message and all of his writings because he understands that he is standing on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, he is called by Jesus Christ. He lives and breathes through Jesus Christ, he ministers in the power of Jesus Christ, his whole message is about Jesus Christ, and the hope that we have in him and apart from which all other ground is sinking sand. That is to say that if you're not standing on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, you are of all people most miserable and without God and without hope in this world. So Peter is the apostle of hope, some people think that John is the apostle of love and that Paul is the apostle of faith. And here you have the three Christian virtues and these three apostles of the Lord, hope, faith, and love. And Peter stands out as the apostle of hope. And so what I want you to see that first of all here, Peter seems to radiate hope in his message. Now most of you know that I am somewhat of a political junkie and if you've been following politics of late, you know that we've just gone through a very long season in the Democratic Party, a very long primary season in which two candidates have been struggling and fighting as it were for the nomination of their party, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And now the Democratic Party finally has a nominee and Barack Obama. And now he is coming up against the Republican nominee who is John McCain. And what has been the one thing that has come through the life message if you will, not just the fact that Barack Obama is a very dynamic and powerful speaker but what's come through his life message? What is the one word if you will that summarizes what he says he's all about? No, hope. Wrong answer, you failed. I'm going to preach about change next week. Let's just get through hope, okay? Yeah, Lee, you just blew my whole hook. It's through the whole sermon out the window before I even got it out there. Hope is first, change is second, Barack Obama portrayed himself as being the politician of hope with change that you can believe in. Now look, I'm not trying to make a political message here. I'm not trying to make a political point except to the extent that the kingdom of God itself is political and that we have, if you will, our leader, we have our king, we have our Messiah, we have the one who sits in rules and reigns over all of the earth. There's no question about that and our Messiah is a Messiah of hope. What I'm trying to get you to see is that it's not just the words of Barack Obama that radiate hope but there's something about his personality, there is something about his psychology, there is something about the temperament, there's something about the way that he is built that radiate hope, that gives off a persona of hope. And all I'm trying to get you to see is that Peter is like that. Now whether or not the policy of a man will result for a reason for hope is another conversation for another day and is not part and parcel with what I am called to do that's for the electorate to decide. What I'm trying to get you to see is that whatever you think about his policies, whatever you think about his politics, what you cannot deny is that this man's persona radiate hope. What I'm trying to get you to see is so does Peter's. This is what it was like to be around Peter when Peter spoke when Peter ministered when Peter walked about and you rubbed elbows with him and you broke bread with him. There was something about his persona, there was something about his temperament, there was something about his psychology that radiates hope and it comes all through his writings. What I'm trying to get you to see is the apostle of hope, power, excellence, Peter in a possible of Jesus Christ to God's elect, strangers in the world scattered throughout Pontus, in Galatia, in Cappadocia, in Asia, in Bithnia. What you see here is that one of the things that's characteristic about our hope is that hope reminds us that we are on a journey that we are travelers by nature. When Peter uses the language of strangers, it's the language of pilgrimage and that's a picture of how the Bible portrays the Christian life, the Bible portrays the Christian life more than anything else as a life that is lived on a journey that we are pilgrims, that we are travelers. That's how we are to envision ourselves, that's a picture of what it is to live the Christian life here on this earth and hope above any of the other virtues reminds us that we are travelers that we're on a journey. We've not reached our destination yet, but we have the solid hope that we will. And now, in this time, and in this place, we see ourselves as pilgrims, as travelers, as those who are on a journey between the two comings of Christ. And I don't know how many of you have read the writings of John Bunion, primarily Pilgrims' progress, but in the opening of Pilgrims' progress, John Bunion has an apology, a defense for his writings, if you will. And one of the things that he says in the apology to this, one of the most translated, most rad of all Christian books, and one of the things that he says in the very opening, the preface of that book is this. He says this book will make a traveler, and of course the title bears that out, doesn't it? Pilgrims' progress. This book, he says, will make a traveler, beloved. If you are reading the Bible, if you are reading Peter this morning, what you will see is that what Bunion says about his book is true about the Bible and true about the letter of Peter. This book, reading this book, looking at Peter here and what he says about hope, will make a traveler of you. And what that means is, beloved, that we are travelers, we are pilgrims, we are on a journey. That's what the Christian life is like for us. I remember what Malcolm Muggeridge said, the famous British journalist, he said that one time the first thing he realized about being in the world, and he hoped that it would be the last, is that he was a stranger in it. David Wells says that we are travelers, but we're not tourists. See, so often we live our lives as if we're tourists, just sort of passing through, you know, enjoying all the things that this life, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the things that this life would have, but we're not tourists, we are travelers, we are pilgrims, we are on a journey in hope above. This is the other theological, or Christian virtues, reminds us of this fact, this is the effect of hope, it reminds us that we are travelers on a journey. And notice that this hope is also rooted and grounded in the decrease of God, to God's elect, strangers in the world scattered throughout Pontus, Galatians, Capitose, and Asia, and Bithnia, who have been chosen according to the four knowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood, hope is a virtue that is rooted and grounded in the very decrease of God, the decrease of God, or whatever He has ordained, or for ordained, that will come to pass and hope, the virtue of hope, the Christian hope is rooted and grounded in the decrease of God. This is the language here, to God's elect, to those who have been chosen by God, and so the hope that we have of it is rooted and grounded in the decrease of God, not in the policies of whatever we are promised by our politicians, but in the decrease of God, real hope, true hope, biblical hope is rooted in the counsel of God. And sometimes I think that those of us who are reformed in Presbyterian, we love the doctrines of grace, we love the idea, we love all this language about the elect, we love all this language about predestination, we love all this language about being chosen by God. I love that language, when I learned of the realities of what the Bible teaches about the decrease of God, the fact that yes, we are elect by God, the fact that yes, we have been predestined by God before the foundations of the world, chosen in Christ, before the foundations of the world. I love that it was like being born again all over again, and I love that language, but sometimes I think that we miss the point, and the point I think is this, and it shows up, and not only the writings of Peter, but in the writings of Paul, sometimes I think that those of us who come from this tradition, this reform and in Presbyterian tradition, sometimes I think we think that God elected, that election is the end of election, that predestination is the end of predestination. And that's not what the Bible teaches. Look at what Peter is saying here, he's saying that we were chosen, according to the four knowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the spirits, for what? For obedience, we're chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ in the sprinkling of His blood. I have been elected, you and I have been chosen, you and I have been predestined, not as an end in itself, but so that we might obey God. We might be obedient to Jesus Christ, we're chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ in the sprinkling by His blood, and then if you notice that hope is also related to other virtues, other theological virtues, if you will, he says grace and peace be yours in abundance. And grace here that what we need to understand is that hope comes from grace, hope comes from this idea that of God's favor, as John Murray says, God's favor for the undeserving, God's favor for the ill deserving, God's favor for the hell deserving. Hope is related to the virtue of grace that our hope to is by grace and peace, he says, be yours in abundance. These twin virtues, if you will, grace and peace are related to hope. And peace, you've heard my stick about that, if you've been coming here for a while. I mean, here really are two of the great biblical words, aren't they? Grace and peace, here are two of the really great biblical words. Grace is God's favor with respect to our sin. And peace has to do with, you know, as Alvin Plantiga has said, that peace has to do with the way that things are supposed to be shalom. You know, when you see the word peace in the Bible, it's not just talking about serenity, not just talking about peace of mind, or what we sometimes call personal peace. It's a holistic idea. It's a comprehensive idea that includes everything that God is doing from creation, to redemption, to confirmation, and everything that God is doing in your life, body, mind, heart and soul. It's a comprehensive idea. When you read the word peace in the Bible, what the Bible means is this is the way that things ought to be. You know, peace is more than just getting out of Iraq right now. Peace is more than just the cessation of hostilities. Peace has to do with a whole comprehensive idea. It's the restoration of things the way they ought to be. You don't have to be a rocket science, you don't have to be a theologian, you don't have to be a politician, you don't have to be a ruler of this world to know and to understand, and the comprehend that things are not the way they are supposed to be. If you look around the world today, and you see the world, and what it's full of, of corruption, and sin, and disease, and death, war. If you look at all the things, one thing you can tell, if you look at your own lives, and what's going on in your own lives right now, if you look at your marriages, and what's going on in your marriages right now, if you look at what's going on when you're at work and on the job. If you look at what's going on in your communities, and in this state, this nation, this world, there's one thing that you can see, and that is plain, and that is clear, and that is this, that things are not the way they're supposed to be. Things are supposed to be different than this, and what peace means, what Shalom is, is the idea that things are what they are supposed to be. And if the word Shalom points us all the way back to Genesis and tells us, look, this is the way that things are supposed to be. It takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden and says, look, this is the way that things are supposed to be. It takes us all the way to the fullness, to the end, to the consummation of this age, when God restores and creates a new heaven and a new earth, and it says, look, this is the way that things are supposed to be. That's how it's supposed to be. That's what Shalom is. To what peace is. Peace is a restoration of putting things the way that they are supposed to be. And Shalom, peace, the peace of God and the peace with God, is to change the whole way we think, is to change our whole orientation of how we think, is to change our, the whole way in which we live, is to change and characterize the whole way in which we speak, is to change our own personal lives, is to change our marriages, is to change our families, is to change how we do our work, is to change everything. That's what hope does through Shalom. Peace, restoration of making things, grace and peace be yours and abundance, praise be to God, he says. And this is what I want you to see is that beloved hope has to do with praise. Praise, he begins by saying praise be to God in the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope. When Peter begins to contemplate the new birth and the hope we have is a result of being born into the family of God. What he sees here is that this is a reason for praise. Praise God, he says. Praise be to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his what great mercy. Hope has to do with the mercy of God in his great mercy. He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Do you see this? You are born into a living hope comes by virtue of the new birth. You are born into it. You know, all my life I've looked around and I've seen people who seem to have everything. If you ever know people like that, if you ever meet people like that or you see them, sometimes you see them on TV or in the news, they seem to have everything and they seem to have everything because they were born into it. You look at many wealthy people and you know, some people are born into families and they never have to work the other day in the lives. They've got it all. They've got everything and they have it why? Simply by virtue of their birth. No other reason they were born into it. And truthfully beloved, we are born into this hope. We are born into this inheritance that we have. You didn't earn it. You can't work for it. There's nothing you can do to get it. You're born into it. And that's why the new birth is absolutely essential. You have hope because you're born into this hope. Otherwise you don't have any hope. If you're not born into this hope, you have no hope. There is no hope apart from being born into this living hope. God is in His mercy. God has given us a new birth and is living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. An into inheritance that can never perish, spoil, fade, kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Hope has to do with the future too. It has to do with the whole idea that God's future has already come in Jesus Christ and that we now wait for that future to be realized completely and fully. And because we know that God's Word is true, because we know that what God says is certain, then you can have hope. That is to say that hope is actually based on certainty rather than, as John Piper says, uncertainty. Hope is based on certainty rather than uncertainty. You know most of the time that we use the word hope, we don't really have any expectation that we're actually going to get what we hope for. Do we? That is to say that most of the time when we use the word hope, we use the word hope with uncertainty rather than certainty. Biblical hope is the certainty that whatever God has promised in Jesus Christ it will come to pass. That's biblical hope. In other words, biblical hope is based on certainty. But most of the time when you and I use the word hope, it's based on the idea of uncertainty. We really expect to get to ever get what we hope for. You hear people say things like, I hope I win the lottery. What does that mean? That means translated. I don't think there's any way on God's creation that I'm ever going to win the lottery. We hear people say, I hope I'm famous someday. What does that mean? That means you're probably not going to be famous. We hear people say things like, well I don't know how many have been watching the basketball playoffs or not, but there are some people who actually hold out the hope that the Lakers are going to win the finals this week. They don't honestly expect them to win the finals, do they? And see so our hope is based on uncertainty really when we use the word hope. We usually have that this isn't going to happen. There's no way this is going to happen. So most of the time we speak about hope. We speak about it in terms of uncertainty rather than certainty. And biblical hope is exactly the opposite of that. biblical hope is the certainty that God will do what he has said he will do. And that's the difference. Glover, when you hear the word hope bantered around this election cycle, know this. Know the difference between hope that is built on uncertainty and hope that is built on certainty. Biblical hope is built on the certainty that whatever God has said, it will come to pass. Why? Why? Because this hope is hidden in God Himself. It's hidden in His divine decrees. Why? Because this is a hope that you are supernaturally born into. Why? Because this is a living hope based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is to say that this hope cannot fail, cannot fade, cannot perish, cannot pass away any more than Jesus Christ Himself can. That this is a living hope in the same way that Jesus is a living Christ. And that's why it cannot spoil, it cannot fade, it cannot perish and it will not. Beloved, if you're here this morning, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ upon this solid rock we stand all other ground, whatever it may be. No matter how firm it appears, no matter how solid it looks, it is nothing but sinking. And so when you leave this morning, you leave standing on the solid rock of Christ who is our Heavenly Father. Come before you because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, your Son, empowered and enabled by your Holy Spirit and come before you, Lord. With words of praise and adoration to give you glory and honor to worship you and all of your splendor and your glory and your majesty. Come before you, Lord, asking that you by the power of your Holy Spirit for the sake of Jesus Christ by the will of God, that the Word of God would penetrate our hearts and our minds to change us, to lead us into faith and repentance, to change our hearts away from all of the worldly desires and lusts. And turn them on to you that we might live for you, that we might serve you, that we might be your ambassadors, your diplomats, that we might be your ministers, that we might accomplish your will, to do your work, to do your good pleasure in the building of your kingdom here upon this earth. And Lord, we recognize that to do so, we know that we need hope, we pray now, Lord, that as we have been born into this hope, you will bring it to our consciousness so that we can live with the consciousness of the hope that we have in Jesus. We ask this in His name.